I accept the cultural difference between the US and the UK. What I do NOT accept is that collecting DNA which is NOT relevant to the conviction in question is constitutional under the prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures as it is being done for the purposes of investigating a future crime. Under Arkansas' most recent DNA laws, even a first time offender put on probation for hot checks in the amount of $500.00 or more justifies a permenant addition to the state and federal DNA bank. ALL felons, regardless of their crimes, must now provide a DNA sample. Let me give you an example of that DUe Process that you described:
I had a friend whom was a registered nurse in Arkansas. She found that her husband was cheating on her with another woman, whom incidentally had her own children taken from her because she was Munchausen by proxy. In otherwords, the mistress repeadedly made her kids sick and nearly killed them by smothering them followed by taking the kids to the hospital for medical care. Basically, she was a serial killer in the making. So, the wife finds out that not only was he having an affair but that he was bringing the woamn near her own children while she was at work and twice the husband had to take the kids to the hospital while in the presence of the mistress. That is how the wife found out about the situation. Another nurse recdognized the mistress from trying to kill her own kids. On a Thurday evening, the nurse kicked her husband out of the house to protect her kids and filed for divorce. That Friday, her paycheck was direct deposited, and her husband cleaned out her account without her knowledge. She writes checks to pay her bills, shopping, car repairs, etc. All of her checks bounced and the State decided to prosecute her for felony charges instead of letting her re-pay the bounced check(s), because the husband had a friend in the prosecutor's office. Of course he failed to disclose that he had cleaned the wife's account and all marital accounts to cause her problems in retaliation for her kicking him out. He was obsessed with and still seeing the crazy mistress. The wife (RN) was put on probation for the check(s) and required to repay it as well as submit a DNA sample. She lost her RN license and ability to provide for her kids as a result of the felony conviction. So, there is your due process in the US.
Now I ask you, is it fair?
I am totally against this completely unconstitutional, unreasonable and illegal search and seizure. The current trend for DNA storage is a perfect example of why. Most, if not all US states, require a DNA sample from felons convicted of some or all felonies. Arkansas requires a DNA sample for ALL felons regardless of the crimes. The purpose of this is to compare to an existing database for past crimes and to monitor for FUTURE crimes that have yet to occur. How is THAT purpose constitutional when it is not related to the ORIGINAL convition? That is putting us one generation from mandatory DNA samples for ALL US citizens. That opens the door for many set-ups and wrongful convictions. As things stand, all I have to do is take hair out of a felon's hairbrush and put it in a ski mask, commit a crime, and leave the ski mask behind so that the authorities has a known felon for a perpetrator that seems a perfect Defender. Rock solid DNA evidence and a slam dunk conviction. How is that for justice? Now, we add RFID chips to those felons so we can ID them and/or locate them quickly. I see lots of benefit from that. Don't you? Okay,now let's say I have a friend with the police dept and I want to locate a person. All I have to do is have them jump online....Just like having a friend at a cell phone company look up a phone number so I can call or harass someone whom did not feel it necessary to give me the number. Where does the line begin and end on the privacy issue in today's modern world. The RFID chip idea is one like that does not need to be crossed involuntarily.
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I accept the cultural difference between the US and the UK. What I do NOT accept is that collecting DNA which is NOT relevant to the conviction in question is constitutional under the prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures as it is being done for the purposes of investigating a future crime. Under Arkansas' most recent DNA laws, even a first time offender put on probation for hot checks in the amount of $500.00 or more justifies a permenant addition to the state and federal DNA bank. ALL felons, regardless of their crimes, must now provide a DNA sample. Let me give you an example of that DUe Process that you described: I had a friend whom was a registered nurse in Arkansas. She found that her husband was cheating on her with another woman, whom incidentally had her own children taken from her because she was Munchausen by proxy. In otherwords, the mistress repeadedly made her kids sick and nearly killed them by smothering them followed by taking the kids to the hospital for medical care. Basically, she was a serial killer in the making. So, the wife finds out that not only was he having an affair but that he was bringing the woamn near her own children while she was at work and twice the husband had to take the kids to the hospital while in the presence of the mistress. That is how the wife found out about the situation. Another nurse recdognized the mistress from trying to kill her own kids. On a Thurday evening, the nurse kicked her husband out of the house to protect her kids and filed for divorce. That Friday, her paycheck was direct deposited, and her husband cleaned out her account without her knowledge. She writes checks to pay her bills, shopping, car repairs, etc. All of her checks bounced and the State decided to prosecute her for felony charges instead of letting her re-pay the bounced check(s), because the husband had a friend in the prosecutor's office. Of course he failed to disclose that he had cleaned the wife's account and all marital accounts to cause her problems in retaliation for her kicking him out. He was obsessed with and still seeing the crazy mistress. The wife (RN) was put on probation for the check(s) and required to repay it as well as submit a DNA sample. She lost her RN license and ability to provide for her kids as a result of the felony conviction. So, there is your due process in the US. Now I ask you, is it fair?
I am totally against this completely unconstitutional, unreasonable and illegal search and seizure. The current trend for DNA storage is a perfect example of why. Most, if not all US states, require a DNA sample from felons convicted of some or all felonies. Arkansas requires a DNA sample for ALL felons regardless of the crimes. The purpose of this is to compare to an existing database for past crimes and to monitor for FUTURE crimes that have yet to occur. How is THAT purpose constitutional when it is not related to the ORIGINAL convition? That is putting us one generation from mandatory DNA samples for ALL US citizens. That opens the door for many set-ups and wrongful convictions. As things stand, all I have to do is take hair out of a felon's hairbrush and put it in a ski mask, commit a crime, and leave the ski mask behind so that the authorities has a known felon for a perpetrator that seems a perfect Defender. Rock solid DNA evidence and a slam dunk conviction. How is that for justice? Now, we add RFID chips to those felons so we can ID them and/or locate them quickly. I see lots of benefit from that. Don't you? Okay,now let's say I have a friend with the police dept and I want to locate a person. All I have to do is have them jump online....Just like having a friend at a cell phone company look up a phone number so I can call or harass someone whom did not feel it necessary to give me the number. Where does the line begin and end on the privacy issue in today's modern world. The RFID chip idea is one like that does not need to be crossed involuntarily.